What is Sasquatch?

There are many theories about this creature. The truth is, we just don’t know what it is - not until a tissue sample from one of them is studied and DNA testing is done.

Some Common Theories

A relict hominid, such as a C. Neanderthals.

A robust australopithecine - an archaic early hominid with a sagittal crest, either Paranthropus or Australopithecus robustus.

Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant ape that lived in China as recently as 125,000 years ago.

Or it could be something else that science has not yet documented. But whatever it is, the general view is that it’s a member of the primate family.

Neanderthal

Some Russian scientists consider the “wildman” or Russian Almas may be a remnant of C. Neanderthals that has somehow survived until present day. However, in anecdotal reports such as sightings of these creatures in Russia, witnesses have described a human-sized and human-like bipedal figure that is lightly but sparsely hair-covered. This is a very different description from the North American sasquatch description.

Paranthropus or Australopithecus robustus

Fossilized skull and bone fragments have been found only in Africa. These date to no earlier than 2.2 mya (million years ago) in origin. And modern research has found its height to be around 5 ft. 4 in., certainly far smaller than has been described of sasquatch. There is also no evidence that it ever migrated out of Africa, let alone across the Asian continent and the Bering land bridge to North America.

Gigantopithecus blacki

Gigantopithecus blacki, was a giant ape that lived in the Guangxi region of southeastern China until 125,000 years ago. A handful of teeth and a set of jawbones have been found and studied. Because of the sheer size of the bones and teeth, scientists suggest it is the largest primate that ever existed. There is some disagreement among them over its method of locomotion. Some scientists adhere to the theory that it was a knuckle-walker like the gorilla. Others think it may have had the ability to walk upright, or bipedally. They also say that since the fossil record ends, this animal is now extinct. That may well be true. This creature may have died out, as so many other species have in the past. But there are some who also believe it could still exist in the form of sasquatch in North America.

One Possible Scenario

If the most likely candidate for the North American sasquatch is Giganto, how could it have gotten all the way here from China? And why would it travel so far from its home range?
The fossil record of this giant ape begins about 6.3 million years ago, which means it thrived for about five and a half million years in Southeast Asia. Excavations in Hubei Province in 1970, and again in Sichuan Province in 1987, uncovered bones of both Giganto and Homo erectus side by side. Since the bones of both were found together, it was concluded that they coexisted or lived at the same time, in the same territory.

Homo erectus originated in Africa around 1.6 million years ago, and is considered our distant ancestor. These early humans walked upright and over time, migrated from Africa to what is now known as Europe and Asia. Homo erectus had the ability to make tools and create fire. They also had language skills. Homo erectus arrived in the area where Giganto lived and flourished for 6 million years. It’s felt that eventually H. erectus either killed off Giganto, or caused the giant ape to seek other territory, rather than compete for the same food sources with such an aggressive, tool-wielding adversary.

This same area of southeast Asia had many large animals competing for the same food sources. Carnivores like the tiger and leopard were plentiful, the Asiatic black bear, wolf and Asiatic wild dog, the rhinoceros, elephant and stegodon (an extinct relative of the elephant), orangutan, tapir and giant panda all lived in this jungle climate with the giant ape. The giant panda disappeared from its original territory at about the same time. It now survives in a small cold upland region of Sichuan Province. Theories on why the panda went extinct in its larger home range is human hunting and its food source being depleted.

We know from the fossil evidence that this giant ape existed. The questions are, did it walk upright, did it survive to present day, did it travel across the Bering land bridge to North America, and is it the creature so many people have seen in our natural and wilderness areas across the continent? Did the same thing happen to the giant ape that happened to the giant panda.

Now here come the if’s

If Giganto walked upright, its height is estimated at around 10 ft. tall. It’s weight is suggested at as much as 1,200 pounds – comparable to a large male polar bear. A primate of that size would have had little difficulty walking great distances with relative ease. Rather than be overwhelmed by the humans that had invaded its territory, it might have just left the area in search of new territory. This might have occasioned a gradual migration up the coast and across to the North America, where it spread out through a wilderness abundant with food sources.

Scientists cite the lack of fossil evidence, saying therefore that these giant primates likely died out in southern China.

But a lack of bone evidence doesn’t necessarily mean extinction. We know gorillas exist. But there is no fossil record of their existence through prehistory. One reason why is climate and soil conditions that exist in areas where these animals live. Once a creature dies, the bones are absorbed into the damp mountain and jungle soils and in a very short time, they rot and disintegrate. Predators also scatter any remnants left behind, which then disintegrate into the earth.

Think about the length of time dinosaurs lived on earth … hundreds of millions of years. Yet dinosaur fossils are rare finds. The animal had to fall dead in just the right type of substrate to have its bones preserved over the millennia. The same is true of any animal.

So the possibility that Giganto did not die out is still an option.

Conclusion

That, of course, doesn't mean that the North American sasquatch is Gigantopithecus blacki. This is only one theory. There have been inferences that sasquatch are of relict Native Indian heritage. Some witnesses have heard vocalizations that sound somewhat like language. Hair sample testing continues to be inconclusive, but many samples have been very similar to human hair, not primate hair.

That brings us back to the statement at the top of this article. Until we have a sample of its DNA to test, we won't know just what it is.